


The People They Once Were

by LJF



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Disabled Character, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Firebending & Firebenders, Fix-It of Sorts, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Genderbending, Major Original Character(s), Modern Era, Original Character-centric, Post-Canon, Reincarnation, Ridiculously Long Author's Notes, Sort Of, Waterbending & Waterbenders, but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LJF/pseuds/LJF
Summary: Nearly a century and a half after the Harmonic Convergence, a boy in the Western Air Temple is born with a unique ability-- and a keen sense of something lost.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	The People They Once Were

**Author's Note:**

> So this is _meant_ to be canon-compliant with LOK (except for one significant change (technically two, if we're getting specific, although one's more of a headcanon)). Considering the rate of technological advancement in the 70 years between ATLA & LOK, and that the amount of time passed between LOK and this fic is nearly double that, I figure that, technologically, they're probably fairly equivalent to us here in the twenty-first century, although things may have different names and/or practical applications. (Except maybe the internet-- I think they probably have something a little different, probably involving spirits.) (And the air temples try to pratice aestheticism, and avoid over-reliance on modern technology, so you won't actually see much of this until later chapters.)
> 
> (Note that I have not yet seen LOK season 4, so if there is some major, season-2-finale level world-building change that happens in that one, I don't know about it and obviously didn't include it. Please don't leave any spoilers in the comments.)

Tashi doesn't have a father.

Three hundred years ago, this would not have been the slightest bit unusual. The people of the Air were nomadic, and most did not form families of the traditional sort. Children were raised and trained communally. It would have been unusual for a child to really have a _mother_ , let alone a father.

However, things have changed since then. Today's Air Nomads are primarily descended from those of Water and Earth, both of whom form strong bonds with others, and, as such, tend to build the family units once so foreign to their people. Not _all_ of them, of course, but enough that a boy who doesn't even _know_ the identity of his own father is something of an oddity.

Tashi doesn't really seem to mind, though. His mother, Sangye, may not be the most doting or attentive parent, but she clearly loves him dearly, and if he realizes there's something different between his own home life and those of the other children in the temple, he doesn't mention it.

Sometimes, though, he can be found staring off into the distance, a faint look of longing on his face. He clearly misses _something_. Whether it's the father he's never known, or someone or something else entirely, no one really knows.

* * *

Tashi is an odd child. Elsewhere, he might be considered unsettling, or even freakish, but the Air Nomads are used to oddities. Even so, he's definitely thought of as more than a bit strange.

He _knows_ things. Even as an infant, he was very particular about who he let near him-- and those he didn't like were often later found to be untrustworthy or even dangerous. From the moment he could talk, he's always known when he's being lied to. He can tell when someone is approaching near him, even from several rooms away. He _hates_ wearing shoes. When he talks to people, he often gets distracted by something behind them or over their shoulder. Some think he might be seeing invisible spirits, but no one knows for sure.

He definitely does have an afinity for the spirits, though. They flock to him, and it's rare that he's seen without at least a few hanging around him.

Tashi is only three years old, and, despite a strong spiritual connection, has not yet shown any signs of being a bender.

* * *

When Tashi is four, there's trouble in the temple. Rinchen, Karma and Rabchen's newborn, is discovered to be deaf. The elders suggest it might be wise for Rabchen and his family to leave, perhaps travel to the Eastern Temple. It's not a _banishment_ , spirits forbid, but the Western Temple, hanging off the cliffside as it does, isn't the safest place in the world, especially for a child who can't hear the falling pebbles that signal an avalanche, or the skittering of dirt that warns of an unexpected drop.

Karma is beside herself. Other than pilgrimages to the other temples, and a brief period of service before she earned her tattoos, she's never gone far from the Western Temple. This is her _home_.

To the surprise of all, Tashi (who's never spent much time in the company of other children, prefering to be on his own or among older people), goes to see the couple, and tells them not to worry.

"You don't need to leave," he says to the new parents, "Rinchen is perfectly safe here. She's capable and strong-- don't underestimate her."

And Karma, daring to hope, convinces Rabchen that they should stay.

The oddest thing about the whole situation, though, is that Tashi refered to the child as _she_. Rinchen is Rabchen and Karma's _son_.

* * *

Tashi and Rinchen develop a strong bond. The child is a constant help to Karma for the first few years, never losing his patience when the younger boy takes a little longer to grasp things than others, enunciating his words clearly so Rinchen can learn to read his lips.

At the same time, though, Tashi doesn't go easy on the kid, either. He expects Rinchen to do just as well (if not better) than the other children at the temple. He doesn't warn the boy when something is about to fall by him, and when Rinchen starts toddling around, Tashi never helps when he falls, expecting him to pick himself up and try again.

Despite this (or perhaps _because_ of it), Rinchen _adores_ the older boy, hanging on his every word, constantly following him around. Tashi, of endless patience, never seems to mind, and people grow used to seeing the two together. When Rinchen refers to Tashi as his "older brother," everyone takes it in stride. The Air Nomads may not raise children communally, but people of different families "adopting" each other as kin is much more common here than in the other nations.

When, at barely two years old, Rinchen shows signs of airbending _precociously_ early, Tashi, rather than being jealous, seems almost _proud_ of his little brother. (Not the you'd tell by listening to him. "Doesn't expect me to treat you like you're something special just because you can blow a little wind around," he says in that strange, tough manner he only uses with Rinchen.)

They _do_ start spending a _lot_ more time around sky bison, though. Tashi _suggests_ that little Rinchen get his own baby bison _now_ , despite the fact even _he_ doesn't have one yet (children generally aren't trusted with their own bison until they're at least eight or nine). (And people have learnt that, despite Tashi's youth, when he makes _suggestions_ it's best to listen.) He makes sure the younger boy is always around his new companion.

And when, a few months later, Karma realizes her son is using his bending to make up for his disabilities, feeling even the slightest vibrations in the air around him to understand what people are saying and doing (even behind his back or in the next room), Tashi is the only one who isn't the slightest bit surprised, or even impressed. ("It's about time" is his only real comment.)

(He hasn't called Rinchen "she" again, and Rabchen believes it was just a slip of the tongue. Karma isn't so sure, but she figures it's just another one of Tashi's little quirks.)

* * *

When Tashi is seven, he disappears. For two whole weeks, no one sees hide or hair of him. Sangye is nervous, but Karma and the others aren't too worried. Everyone knows that Tashi, for all that he can't bend, is probably the most capable child (possibly even _person_ ) in the temple. The spirits will take care of him. He'll be _fine_.

One day, while a few of the residents are looking for him down at the bottom of the ravine, they hear something loud and heavy. Quickly, expecting a rockfall, they grab their gliders and fly out of the way.

Instead of anything _falling_ , the rock _opens_ , revealing a little boy standing inside, feet rooted in ground as he lowers a boulder down to the river.

(When they ask him where he was, he tells them that he met some friendly badger-moles.)

When Tashi is seven, he starts bending _Earth_.

* * *

There _have_ been children of water, earth, or fire born to the temples before. Usually to mixed race couples, which have been fairly common since the Air Nomads _first_ returned after the Harmonic Convergeance.

But Tashi doesn't have a father.

* * *

Tashi seems to enjoy practicing his bending. None of the current acolytes are earthbenders, so he doesn't have any real teachers, but whatever he learnt during his little trip seems to have taught him _something_.

He spends a lot of time training with Rinchen, teaching the other boy to feel even the smallest disturbance of pebbles and dust in the air. Before long, Rinchen can predict the next rockfall _long_ before any _hearing_ people can tell it's coming.

Karma tries to thank Tashi, but the child just waves her off. ("It was all through Rinchen's own efforts," he says, "I told you he was strong.")

* * *

When Tashi is eight, a firebender comes to visit the temple. He's young, probably in his late teens or early twenties. When Tashi first meets Hakuoh, he spends a long time staring at the man. He doesn't say anything, and leaves the room soon afterwards. He seems nervous, or maybe even _scared_ , of this stranger. This makes several people somewhat wary, as they've learned to trust Tashi's instincts.

However, when Hakuoh is escorted to the hall for dinner, Tashi chooses to sit right next to him, and asks him questions about his life and adventures. Hakuoh explains that he's travelling the world, trying to learn wisdom from all of the nations. He explains that even though he's a firebender, he's adapted techniques from all four nations into his bending.

Tashi is quiet for a long time, considering this.

"Why?" he finally asks. The more spiritually inclined of those who've been eavesdropping can feel _something_ momentous in the question, as though Tashi is testing the man, trying to determine if the man is enemy or ally.

"When I was younger, I could be arrogant and cruel," Hakuoh says. "I believed that the fact that I could bend, so early and so well, somehow made me _better_ than the people around me. I looked down on the other nations, thinking their cultures and bending arts inferior. At times, I even doubted Lord Zuko's wisdom in ending the Hundred Year War, believing that the Fire Nation _should_ be ruling the world."

The hall is silent, everyone pausing to listen to the firebender's confession. Tashi stays quiet, listening, but not commenting.

"When I was fourteen years old, I became deathly ill," the man continues. "I had a raging fever, and no one could figure out the cause. My parents tried every doctor they could find, even calling for water healers from the south, but to no avail."

At this point, every resident of the temple is clustered around Tashi's table, ignoring all food and pretenses of conversation. Hakuoh _must_ notice, but he keeps his eyes focused squarely on Tashi's older-than-his-years stare.

"In my fevered state, my spirit left my body and entered the sprit world." Gasps abound throughout the room. Such things are _whispered_ about, in spirit tales, but none of them have ever met someone who'd actually _experienced_ anything like this.

"I didn't understand what was happening, of course," Hakuoh says, "I just knew I couldn't bend, and I spent what _felt_ like years, but may have only been hours, wandering, lost, bitter, and angry. I believed I must have somehow lost my bending, and that _terified_ me. Who was I, if not a bender?" Several of the airbenders shudder, trying to imagine such an experience.

"Because my own heart was dark, it twisted everything around me. The spirits were as cruel to me as I was to them, and I found no one willing to help me find my way home." Karma holds Rinchen close, imagining him, only a decade older, helplessly wandering such a cruel landscape without his bending to guide him.

"But then I met _him_." The way Hakuoh says it, with a smirk on his lips and a _weight_ to his words, tells those wise enough to listen much about the one he encountered.

"He was kind, offering me shelter from the storm, and promising to teach me something new. I scoffed at him at first, wondering what this old man could possibly have to teach _me_. But there didn't appear to be any other help forthcoming, so I followed him to a house in a clearing, where he sat me down and tried to pour me some calming _tea_." Hakuoh laughs at this.

"Begrudgingly, I drank the tea, then waited for some polite little speech on inner peace and friendship, or whatever it was he wanted to _teach_ me," Hakuoh says, laughter dancing in his eyes. "Instead, he brought me back outside, and told me to fight him." A few of the elders wrinkle their noses at this. They suspect they know who this spirit is, but the behavior Hakuoh is describing confuses them. Tashi, on the other hand, doesn't even blink.

"I scoffed, and told him I wasn't _i_ _nterested_ in fighting some weak old man. He asked me to humor him, so I threw out my arm to attack, only for him to block it. I tried again, to no avail. We spent what may have been days or weeks or could just have easily been a few short minutes or hours, sparring, but no matter what kick or punch I threw at him, he managed to defend. _Only_ defend-- he never attacked first."

Tashi hasn't moved since Hakuoh began his tale. Rinchen has walked over and is clinging to his back, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"I grew more and more furious. 'You said you wanted to fight, old man,' I said, 'So _fight_!' Eventually, I grew tired, and collapsed on the ground, completely spent. I don't know if one can _sleep_ in the spirit world, but I certainly wasn't aware of anything for some time. When I came to, I was lying on a cot, back in the house, while the old man stroked my head and gently held a cup of tea to my lips." One of the baby bison, disgruntled by the lack of attention, flies in and starts making noise. Rabchen shooes her back out.

"I was too tired to be angry anymore, so I asked him _why_? Why did he help me, only to challenge me like that? What was he trying to prove?" Several of the younger children scoot forward, eager to hear more.

"'You remind me of someone I once knew,' he told me. 'A young firebender who believed the world ought to bow at her feet because of who and what she was. She thought she was all, and _knew_ all, and couldn't imagine she might have something to _learn_ from those she looked down upon. I was never able to help her, but maybe I can help _you_.'" Hakuoh sighs.

"I didn't understand, at first. But the more time I spent in that cottage, the more I learnt. The door was always open, and a constant stream of spirits would come in and out. Some needed help, others asked for advice, and some just stopped by for a cup of tea and a game of pai sho. And no matter how silly or weak, the old man never turned any of them away. 'You can find wisdom in all places, great and small,' he would say." The firebender pauses, pouring himself a cup of tea to sooth his dry throat.

"It took me some time, but I eventually realized what he was trying to teach me. I came to understand that I wasn't inherently _better_ than anyone else. I had power, yes, but that came with responsibilities, not _rights_. I wasn't _entitled_ to anything." Hakuoh puts down his cup.

"The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my bed back home," he continues. "But I was never the same after that. If the old man was right, if there was wisdom to be found _everywhere_ , I wanted to find it. I wanted to really get to _know_ , to _understand_ , the world around me, to be a part of it, rather than above it."

"Once you had made peace within yourself, you were ready to make peace with the world." The nomads blink a few times, startled out of the storytelling haze by the sound of Tashi's voice.

"Yes, exactly," Hakuoh responds. Tashi looks at him carefully, then shifts his gaze to something _behind_ the young man.

"And you, " he says, clearly speaking to someone none of them can see. "Have you finally been able to find that inner peace, as well?"

 _"It took a long time, but I got there eventually."_ It's Hakuoh's lips moving, forming the words, but the voice speaking is clearly _not_ his. It's higher, echoing, somehow young and ancient at the same time. None of them really understand what's going on, but Tashi doesn't seem surprised. He smiles.

"Then you shall always have a place at my table, shelter under my roof, and a home at my hearth," he says, in a formal tone that would sound odd coming from any child _but_ Tashi. "And should I ever encounter the _other_ who had hoped such a day would come, would you like me to pass on a meesage?"

 _"Tell him that I'm sorry, and that I understand now,"_ the voice-that-is-not-Hakuoh's says, _"He was happy, right? Tell him that I'm glad he got that chance."_

"As you wish," Tashi nods.

Suddenly, the strange trance they've all been under breaks, and Hakuoh blinks.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't realized it was so late," he says. "If it's no trouble, could someone show me where I am to sleep?" He clearly doesn't remember what just happened.

"Of course," Tashi says, as if nothing unsual has occurred. For him, maybe it hasn't. He stands up and, Rinchen trailing after him, escorts Hakuoh to the room that's been set aside for him.

* * *

Hakuoh stays for several months, learning of their history and culture, and studying their bending styles while figuring out how to modfy them for his own firebending.

Tashi seems fond of the older bender, and they spend hours in each other's company, talking, sparring, and mediating in turn. Hakuoh teaches the boy the forms he learnt while travelling through the Earth Kingdom, and Tashi teaches the young man to hear the voice of the spirits.

But all good things come to an end, and eventually it's time for Hakuoh to leave.

This is not the first time in Tashi's life a visitor has come and gone, even one he was friendly with, but there's clearly something different this time. Tashi hugs his new friend tightly, and they agree to write.

"This is not good-bye," he whispers in Hakuoh's ear. "We _will_ meet again, this I swear. Whether it be in this life, or the next."

"Of course," Hakuoh says, ruffling the boy's hair. "You didn't think you were getting rid of me that easily, did you?"

* * *

When Tashi is nine, he takes Rinchen on a pilgrimage to the Southern Temple. Rabchen is hesitant at allowing his young, _deaf_ son to travel alone but for a boy barely out of babyhood himself, but Karma convinces him the Rinchen wil be _completely_ safe. She has complete faith that Tashi will protect Rinchen with his _life_ if necessary. Rabchen relents.

They take Mi-Ma, Rinchen's bison. (Despite the fact that Tashi is technically old enough for his own sky bison, he has not chosen one. When asked why, his only response was a cryptic comment about an "imbalance" or something. By this point people are so used to Tashi's little quirks that no one batted an eyelash at this.) They travel through the Fire Nation, and the journey takes nearly three weeks. They encounter plenty of fascinating people, but they don't see Hakuoh, who, according to his latest letter, is currently visiting the Northern Water Tribe.

When they finally reach the Southern Temple, they're welcomed by the Air folk of the South, who are always glad to have guests. Yangtso, great-great-grandaughter of Avatar Aang, and one of the temple elders, is especially excited to see them. She tells Tashi that she trained his mother, who stayed here for several years when she was in her teens. This is clearly news to Tashi, who's never heard much about Sangye's life before his birth. Yangtso happily shares several stories about his mother's adeventures, but trails off in the middle of telling how Sangye left a few weeks after her seventeenth birthday, which was...... about ten years ago.

Sangye left the Southern Air Temple to return to the Western Temple ten years ago.

Tashi is nine years old. (He's an Earthbender.)

(It doesn't take a genius to realize she must have travelled through the Earth Kingdom (or perhaps the United Republic) on her way home.)

No one ever told him that Sangye had him when she was _seventeen_.

(Tashi doesn't have a father.)

* * *

After a month and a half of in the Southern Temple (everyone is _very_ impressed by little Rinchen's unique bending), Tashi and Rinchen head home. (He briefly considers stoping by the South Pole to visit the Spirit World through the portal there, but he decides bringing Rinchen there would probably be a bad idea. Another time.)

Again, they travel through the Fire Nation.

They meet a cheerful teenage boy named Mizu who they both quickly befriend. Mizu's not a bender, but he's smart and funny and wants to be a doctor. They spend three days with him and his family, and when it's time to leave, all three of them are sad to part. They agree to keep in touch.

When they return home, Karma overhears Tashi telling his mother Yangtso sends her regards.

He doesn't ask her any questions about her time in the South or her journey home.

Air Nomads have always been a private people. Everyone is entitled to their secrets. She'll tell him when and if she chooses.

* * *

When Tashi is twelve, he tells Sangye that he's leaving. She's not surprised. She's known for years that some day he would have to travel to the Earth Kingdom to study his bending. She packs him warm clothes and wishes him well.

Rabchen and Rinchen fly him to the nearest port, where he'll catch a flight headed south.

Rinchen is angry. Tashi is _his_ , why is he leaving?

"Separation is an illusion," Tashi tells him, "I will _always_ be with you, little one." He looks over Rinchen's shoulder, past the faint shadow of a red-robed man wearing a pointed hat, to a green-garbed woman with a smirk on her lips and a devious twinkle in her colorless eyes, and he knows that Rinchen will be just fine, even if he's not around.

* * *

Sitting in an aeroplane bound for the southwest of the Earth Kingdom, away from everyone he's ever known, Tashi stares off into the distance, a faint look of longing on his face. He does this sometimes, and anyone who sees him like this can tell that he's clearly missing _something_ , but no one ever knows what.

If someone happened to be sitting close enough to hear the whisper on his lips, they might have had some idea.

"I miss you, Raava......"

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation/Exposition time!
> 
> So, basically, in this AU, everything in happened exactly the same way it did in LOK, _except_ that when Korra fought Vaatu at the end of season 2, Raava was destroyed and did not return to Korra's body. Korra was still the Avatar, and could still bend all four elements, but the cycle ended with her. ("I guess I really am the last ~~airbender~~ avatar.") There would be no more Avatars. (Of course, Vaatu and Raava will return in time for the next Harmonic Convergence, and there might be a new Avatar then, but that's not for another ten thousand years, so they won't be showing up in this fic.)
> 
> However, _reincarnation_ is still a thing. I always thought the Avatar couldn't be the only one in their world who reincarnated (kudos to Vathara, who deals _a lot_ with reincarnation in her Zuko-centric fic "Embers," which you should totally go check out), and the whole "order of the Avatar cycle" seems important, and I did keep that-- so _most people_ (particularly benders) are reborn, over and over, in the order of the elemental cycle. It's just that they can't _connect_ to their previous lives the way the Avatar can.  
> Tashi is Korra reborn. He _should_ have been the next Avatar. But he's not. Luckily, however, he's got some other interesting abilities to make up for it-- _including_ the ability to see (and, in some cases, communicate with) people's past lives. Just to be clear, he doesn't exactly have _memories_ of his past lives. However, he does know he was the Avatar, he's studied enough history that he more or less knows everything that went down in his past two lives, and he can often _recognize_ people he met in a past life. (It's not an exact science, though, because the lives are all layered on top of each other, making more recent ones easier to see and identify. If it was in the past three or four lives, he can probably tell, but further back than that, it can be somewhat trickier.) However, people aren't always reborn as the same gender, and can have _vastly_ different personalities than they did _before_ , as evidenced by the Avatars themselves.  
> Because Tashi _should_ have been the Avatar, and his soul spent so many lifetimes bound up with the spirit of Raava, he constantly feels as though he's missing an essential part of himself-- Korra spent her life feeling the same way, although she learned to manage it, and, hopefully, Tashi will, too.
> 
> (Based on this whole reincarnation life-cycle theory (and yes, this my actual theory/headcanon), the new airbenders in season 3 of LOK were all people who, in their past life, were Fire Nation, but _couldn't_ be reborn as Air Nomads, and were instead born as people who had _enough_ latent Air Nomad blood that they could _settle_ for it. Harmonic Convergence (which, exactly as it says on the tin, is meant to _harmonize_ the world) released enough balancing energy for them to actualize their full potential. That's why most of them were born in the Earth Kingom (and, in this fic, the Water Tribes, though I haven't yet seen any of those in LOK), since the Earth Kindgom (and Water Tribe) citizens were probably much more likely to have inter-racial relations with the Air Nomads than anyone in the Fire Nation. ~~Wait, would that make Zaheer Ozai reborn? Maybe? I legit just thought of that. Mind-BLOWN.~~ )
> 
> For anyone who wanted confirmation:  
> Rinchen _was_ Toph two lives ago (and a fire sage in between).  
> Hakuoh was Azula four lives ago. (If you know me, you know I love a good Azula redemption story, though I'm not sure if this qualifies.) If you were wondering _why_ Azula has gone through four lives in two hundred years while the others of that generation have only had two or three-- the soul was _so_ scarred from its time as Azula that it went through four very short, very miserable lives in quick succession. It couldn't be properly healed until it had gone through a full cycle and was once again a firebender. (BTW, Hakuoh means "White Phoenix"-- I thought it fit, both as a rebirth/redemption motif, and with the whole phoenix/flame thing going on in the ATLA finale. Not sure if phoenixes are an _actual_ animal and/or spirit in the Avatar world, but the _concept_ definitely exists.)  
> Yangtso was _probably_ Gyatso four lives ago, and as for Mizu.... we'll get back to him in a later chapter.
> 
> I have [tumblr](https://ljf613.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
